Welcome to the April 2002 French Update
Welcome to this month's Update. This month I'll deal with some subscribers' queries.
All this month's new games are easily downloaded in PGN format using ChessPub.exe, go to ChessPub.exe, put the date on, say, 2nd May 2002, and then click on 'French', over on the right. All these games should appear!
You can also enter the specific ECO code if you are only interested in a particular opening. Download PGN of April '02 French games
The Winawer 4.Nge2 [C15]
Subscriber Arturo Ochoa M. has asked me to look at some of the non-mainline Winawer systems. This month I'll begin by considering 4.Nge2. There has been an exciting development here in one of the critical lines that turns upside down some of the comments in my books Mastering the French and French Winawer. I always thought that 4...Nc6 was a strong reply by Black, giving at least equality; now however the initiative is back with White, as shown by Berg-Kindermann.
Winawer 7.Qg4 Qc7 [C18]
It's been quite a while since we looked at the Poisoned Pawn line. I was prompted by the following email:
Neil,
In the main line Winawer, the poison pawn, where white takes
the pawn on c3 with is queen, is that a forced draw with best play. I know
there are lines where black gets the inpressive center, but white pushes his
pawns on the queen side and black usually has to end up giving perpetual
check cause there is a pawn on f7 that is dangerous. It is just that I
wonder, if I need a win, do I play this?
Oh, keep up the good french work.
Ralph Monda
This month I can offer you a dangerous and lesser known alternative to the long mainline after 13.Qxc3, which seems to have been analysed out to a draw-or, as Tarrasch might have said 'both sides stand equally badly!' Have a look at the very convincing win for Black in Von Buelow-Poldauf, which is certainly food for thought for ambitious players of Black.
Winawer 7.Qg4 0-0 [C18]
Here we look at a new interpretation of the 8.Bd3 f5 mainline by Ivanchuk. Don't be fooled by the fact that it was played in a rapid play game: the top players all take the Melody Amber tournament very seriously and aren't going to be hiding their best ideas. Ivanchuk diverges from his game with Ponomariov in the Linares tournament, which is also given on the website. Have a look at Leko-Ivanchuk.
The Classical, Alekhine-Chathard Attack [C13]
Hey Neil,
I was wondering what you thought about a variation of
the Alekhine-Chathard Attack in the Classical
Variation. After 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Be7 5
e5 Nfd7 6 h4 the option that you give works well in
Nataf-Ulibin game. But I was wondering about the
Alekhine Accepted. After 6...Bg5 7 hg5 Qg5 8 Nh3 Qe7 9
Nf4 Nc6 10 Qg4 Nd4 11 0-0-0 Nf5 I think Black was
looking good in Khalifman-Gulko. But I was wondering
about 11...c5. The idea is that after 12 Nfd5 ed5 13
Nd5 Qe5 and now I dont think White has anything
serious as in the Khalifman-Gulko game as well. What
do you think?
The trouble is White doesn't need to sacrifice on d5- after 11...c5 simply 12.Qxg7 getting the pawn back should be at least equal for him. That's why Gulko played 11...Nf5 to defend g7.
The other part of this line I wanted to talk about was
after 6...Bg5 7 hg5 Qg5 8 Nh3 Qe7 9 Qg4 with the idea
that after 9...g6 Black cannot go into the ...Nc6
line. Is there an alternative instead of going into
9...g6 and is 9...g6 any good? One possible line White
can play as an alternative to tranposing to the main
line by 10 Nf4 could be 9 Qg4 g6 10 Ng5!?. What do you
think about this line for Black?
Well any answers would be great. Thank you.
Leo Martinez
Thanks to Leo for the email. Although Korchnoi, the arch pawn grabber accepts the sacrifice 'on principle', in my opinion Black should definitely prefer 6...c5! declining the pawn as given in games on ChessPub. This is because I've analysed the gambit accepted and reached the conclusion that if White plays it carefully he is guaranteed to regain his pawn and is in no danger of losing. Indeed, he may be able to claim a slight advantage. Have a look at Frolov-Volkov.
Tarrasch 3...Nf6, 5.f4 line, but transposes to 5. Nce2 in Classical! [C05]
Practically speaking, White's choice of opening in the next game is very shrewd: he leads his opponent from the Tarrasch into one of the most trendy Classical lines. Unless his opponent also had the Classical in his repertoire, he would be unlikely to have made a great study of the resulting position. And so it proved: Black, rated 2587, was absolutely crushed. Of course, the fact that White was also armed with an improvement on theory must also have made a difference!
On the other hand, generally speaking I'm a bit suspicious of White's set-up, as you can discover by checking out the game and the Classical 5.Nce2 ebook. Have a look at Sulskis- Gleizerov.
The Tarrasch 3...c5 4. exd5 exd5 [C08]
Black has a secure position in this variation and it is generally 'theory proof'. On the other hand his winning chances are rather limited: it takes some serious carelessness by White to endanger his game. In the game selected this month White half blunders, half sacrifices a pawn to get an attack, but it rebounds in the face of Brynell's precise defence. Here is Kveinys-Brynell.
The Rubinstein [C10]
Here I wrap up my coverage of the French at the Linares SuperGM 2002 event with two massive games in the Rubinstein. It is curious that Black has started playing 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 rather than the Classical move order 3.Nc3 Nf6 when if 4.Bg5 dxe4 transposes to the Rubinstein central structure. Perhaps Black is afraid that after 3.Nc3 Nf6 White will cross his plans with 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nce2. If that is the case then it is ironic that Anand loses as Black in the first game as he has been the scourge of the French as White with 5.Nce2. Players of White have been trying out various ways of taking advantage of the fact that compared to the Classical move order they haven't yet played Bg5. In both games given here Black runs into trouble in a system that looks harmless. Michael Adams shows good technique in grinding down one of the hardest men in the world to beat [I guess the descending order of invincibility is Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand and Leko.] Check out Adams-Anand.
The second game is another fine win by Gary Kasparov. A player taken by surprise in the opening often makes a feeble reply and even a FIDE World Champion like Ponomariov isn't immune. That is why the top players are always trying to discover new moves- or 'dig up' moves that have been long buried. After this game, every top player knew about Kasparov's unusual move and it lost a lot of its lustre, but it scored an important win in the initial game thanks to its shock value. Enjoy Kasparov-Ponomariov.
The Advance 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 [C02]
Hello Neil,
I've just subscribed to chesspublishing because I like to get some new ideas for my opening repetoire.
When I'm white, in the French opening I always play 1.e4-e6 2.d4-d5 3.e5-c5 4.dxc5
My idea is to keep the e-pawn (if black does not play f6) and then attack blacks King-side. However I can't find many games of this variation. Can you help me so I can improve my play. Thanks in advance
Greetings
Maykel Smits
I found more than 400 examples of 4.dxc5 on my database. It has been used by Steinitz, Nimzowitsch, Keres and Bronstein but has fallen out of favour among top players in the modern chess age. The strongest recent advocate has been English IM Colin Crouch. Here I've annotated his interesting game against no less a player than Bareev. The result isn't good news for the system, but on the other hand Crouch has used the system effectively against some other GMs. have a look at Crouch-Bareev.
3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3 [C02]
Subscriber Harvey Williamson is interested in the move 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!? Chesspublishing's Tony Kosten says he regards it as an underrated move, and that he has played it a few times in quick games with some success. One good feature is that White can answer Qb6 with Qd2, when he has developed his bishop without allowing Qxb2. Also he is overprotecting the key d4 square. On the other hand the bishop development may prove premature as Black can respond Nh6 without having to fear Bxh6 [unless of course White is prepared to waste a tempo]. Also after Qd2 White no longer has the square d2 for his knight unless he moves his queen again. The crucial question seems to be who profits the most if Black plays Nh6-f5xe3- White gets the open f file and strengthens the d4 point, but Black then has the bishop pair and can try to wrest control of the centre from White with f7-f6. To see how some of these ideas work in practise, take a look at Sengupta-Barua.
That's it for this Update. Good luck in your chess and if you have any comments or queries don't be shy about writing to chesspublishing- after all, it's what we are here for!
Best Regards,
Neil.